Years before I became a mom, I did a pretty good job of being ‘green’ as they say. I used natural products and was extremely aware of where all of my food was coming from.

Now that I have a family, I want to make this even more of a priority.

The problem: When there are more people to feed and expenses are higher it can be a little more difficult to be green. Let’s face it, organic and all natural products cost more.

As moms, we have less time and are looking for easy ways to keep on top of dinners, mess and life!

Saying all of this, the kitchen is an important place to start when it comes to making your home more eco-friendly. Making thoughtful decisions impacts the health of our families and the health of our planet, which is why it’s so important to be conscious about making some important changes.

Here are 15 ways to ‘Go Green’ in your kitchen, starting now!

Be a Conscious Shopper

This means you must be aware of the packaging you are using when going to the grocery store.

1. Buy produce with no packaging, if possible. If you have the choice to buy peppers that are wrapped in plastic vs. peppers that are not, so for the package free option. The same goes for any packaging – if you can buy a product with no packaging this is best.

2. Don’t use plastic bags at the store, instead bring your own bags. You can purchase bags from your grocer and use eco-friendly mesh produce bags for your fruits and veg. These mesh bags are fantastic and also come with a swaddle sheet to keep veg fresh for longer in the fridge.

3. Buy in bulk, which is great for your wallet and the environment. Also, ask your local bulk food store about bring your own containers. As always try and go for plastic-free containers.

4. Eat less red meat. Did you know that methane gas is one of the biggest causes of pollution on our planet? Well, methane gas is gas from belching cows! Eating less red meat means there won’t be as much of a demand on reproducing more and more cows. This means reduced methane gas. It’s really a simple math equation!

By the way – ask your kids what they think the biggest polluters in the world are and they’ll be shocked about cows!

Understand food labels and when to buy organic

5. Have you heard of the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15? Organic produce can be expensive, so it’s important to understand which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residue and which have the least. As consumers, we can then decide which produce to buy.

6. If you can afford to buy organic chicken go for it, but if not try and get ‘hormone free’ and ‘humanely raised’ chicken. I read a book called Eating Animals a few years ago and I’ve never looked at chicken the same way again. This book is eye-opening to say the least, but a must read to be a conscious shopper and have a clear mind. You can pick up the book here.

7. Go to farmer’s markets. This way you are supporting local growers and not the larger food industry shipping produce from 1000 miles away. Just keep the dirty dozen and clean 15 list in mind even at the farmer’s markets. You can also ask the local growers if they use pesticides. Many farmers actually run organic farms, but they can’t call it that as it’s not officially ‘certified’.

Opt-in for Eco-friendly Food Storage

8. Who doesn’t love glass jars and containers? Well, it’s time to get rid of your plastic and replace with mason jars and glass airtight storage containers. You can also reuse glass pasta sauce jars and all other glass jars you might be thinking of disposing.

9. Get rid of all plastic straws. I’m sure you know how harmful straws are but here are some astounding statistics from Go-Green-Now.com

In the US 500 Million straws are used every day.

It takes up to 200 years for a straw to decompose.

Every year, 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die from plastic ingestion.

Be prepared with green ‘to-go’ options

13. Have a good quality water bottle and don’t buy plastic bottled water. This is one I try and stick to most. I have travelled a lot and all over the world I have seen beautiful beaches littered with thousands of bottles of water. Sad. Here are two of myfavourite water bottles:

14. Never, I repeat, never use plastic cutlery! Put proper steel cutlery in your kids lunch bags. If you are concerned they will lose all your cutlery, you can go for this compostable cutlery. Also, if you are ordering food delivery to eat at home, ask them not to include cutlery.

Last, but not least Recycle!

15. Understand what can be recycled and how to do it properly. Recycling may seem obvious, but I think at some point we are all doing it wrong. There are items that have the recycling symbol on them, but your city might not recycle that item, so it’s best to check your local city rules around recycling and then stick to those rules. Also, make sure that all containers are food free.

Creating a greener kitchen in your home is good for the health of you, your family and your planet. Let’s join forces, become more conscious about our actions in the kitchen and live a greener life 🙂

Tell me: What do you think is the hardest thing about being green in the kitchen?

Awesome! I started making small adjustments in order start the process. I’ve been making my own cleaning products and I can tell the different. Everything looks so bright and smells so fresh. I need to find farmer’s markets – I’m finding that the cost of items at the grocery store are astronomically high and these items arent the best of the best. Great Post – I love it!

Hi Shatoria 🙂 Thanks for the note! So true, depending on the grocery store, the cost of produce can be astronomical. Definitely try and shop for what’s on sale. Making your own cleaning products is so amazing too and this is where you can also save great $$.

Great tips! I probably follow a third of this list. I have been wanting to get glass containers to replace my plastic.
I have never heard of the dirty dozen, luckily I try to buy those items organic when available anyway. I find it hard to find organic produce where I live. A lot of the time they just don’t have what I am looking for organic.
Great advice for other ways for me to be eco-friendly at home.

These are all great tips! Thank you! I really have been trying to work on this but it can be a struggle sometimes! I do feel good about most of the things you mentioned, though. I think I have checked most of these things off!

So many great tips, I have to admit I only do some of these. But you have given me some great ideas and I definitely want to incorporate more of these in my home. I never even thought about the dishwashing and dishwasher soap, makes so much sense!!

This is such a useful post, thanks. I was watching a program on tv yesterday and they were saying that washing the dirty dozen is not enough. I always thought a good rinse under the tap would wash away any nasty toxins but apparently not. And as all of my favourites are on this dirty dozen list, I think some changes need to be made.

I’m quite a long way from having a green kitchen but these tips are really going to help me.

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Hello!

I'm Yolanda. I love tea, food, the outdoors and a good book. I'm a bonus mom to two boys and I just made it official by marrying my soulmate last summer.

PutTheKettleOn.ca explores the feel good ways to live for today. With today's stresses a lot of us think about what we want to have in the future. My goal is to cherish the great things I have right now and make the most of life in the present.

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget, if you need a little self love – put the kettle on!